Can New York Yankees rally against Detroit Tigers without Derek Jeter?

New York Yankees struggle in ALCS against Detroit Tigers with Derek Jeter out injured and Alex Rodriguez in a slump

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter breaks his ankle in the 12th inning of Game 1 of the American League championship series against the Detroit Tigers early Sunday, October 14, 2012, in New York. Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP

The New York Yankees are in deep trouble: 2-0 down after opening the American League championship series at home against the Detroit Tigers. Leader and most reliable batter Derek Jeter is out for the rest of the season – however long that may be – with a broken ankle. And the rest of the Yankees lineup is struggling.

In this roller-coaster postseason, where all four matchups in the last round went the full distance for the first time ever, anything is possible. But at the moment, a Yankees comeback looks highly improbable.

Theoretically the Yanks should be able to survive the loss of Jeter, given a batting lineup packed full of household names. Jeter was batting .333 – the Yankees' most consistent hitter. But more than that, he is the connection with the recent glory years, having played in all the World Series wins since 1996, and the spiritual leader of a team that no longer features Jorge Posada and, for the moment at least, Mariano Rivera.

Moving Ichiro Suzuki to the top of the order to replace Jeter is fine in theory – the former Seattle Mariner has been hitting consistently. But the move further exposes the woes of the rest of the order. Curtis Granderson is 3-for-26 in this postseason, Nick Swisher is 4-for-26 and Robinson Cano is a disastrous 2-for-32, including an ongoing record-breaking single season hitless streak of 26 at-bats compared to the end of the regular season when he hit 24-for-39. Among these statistics, Alex Rodriguez's numbers are not out of place: 3-for-23. But his body language as he struggles at the plate have symbolised New York's troubles and the now-constantly-changing batting order is the result, as manager Joe Girardi shuffles the players in an attempt to find a new winning formula with the same old materials.

Were it not for Mark Teixeira's solidity and Raul Ibanez's heroic exploits, the Yankees lineup would be without hope.

Ibanez has repeatedly saved the Yankees in this postseason: he tied ALCS Game One with a home run – his third in the postseason, all of which have either tied the game in the ninth inning or won it in extra innings. In ALDS Game Three, he hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run in the ninth to tie it, and then hit the game-winning homer in the 12th. Plus, on the second-to-last day of the regular season, when the Yankees were engaged in a fierce battle with Baltimore for first place in the AL East, Ibanez hit a two-run pinch hit home run against the Red Sox and then hit the game-winning single in the 12th inning.

Maybe it was the end of that 23-game, season-long series against the Orioles that finally ground down the Yankees. The O's never let up in their late-season pursuit of the AL East title and when they lost that – but not the regular season head-to-head series between the two teams, which finished 9-9 – Baltimore caused just as many postseason concerns. The Bronx Bombers finally won through, winning the fifth game of the playoff series and the 23rd game of the season, to claim a spot in the ALCS. But that victory was mostly won on the back of the pitching of CC Sabathia and it left the Yankees looking exhausted, heading into the ALCS the very next night.

Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda have pitched heroically, but with no run support their efforts are doomed to failure.

There will be no easy way back into this series, with three games in Detroit scheduled from Tuesday – and Justin Verlander to pitch Game Three of the ALCS. And the big bats of Detroit will not stay as relatively quiet as they have been thus far.

After Game Two, Girardi focused on two blown calls rather than the travails of his lineup. But A-Rod did at least admit: "I know there are a lot of doubts out there. But we will come back and battle our asses off."